The programme for this year’s Edinburgh International Festival has been announced. Taking place from Friday 2–Sunday 25 August, this year’s edition features 161 performances by more than 2,000 artists from 42 countries. Based on the theme of ‘Rituals That Unite Us’, it aims to respond to artists’ and audiences’ desire for connection.

The festival opens with an untitled large-scale outdoor event for 10,000 people which will explore Scotland’s deep mythology and tumultuous history. Produced in collaboration with Scotch whisky The Macallan and creative producer Pinwheel, further details will be announced later this year.

Theatrical highlights include two world premieres from Scottish creatives. David Ireland’s The Fifth Step (directed by Finn den Hertog) stars Scottish BAFTA winner and Slow Horses actor Jack Lowden, returning to the Scottish stage for the first time since his debut in the critically acclaimed Black Watch in 2010; and Olivier Award winner Stef Smith brings to life Amy Liprot’s bestselling memoir The Outrun, under the direction of Vicky Featherstone.

Helping to break down barriers between audiences and performers, the (literally) laid-back beanbag concerts are set to return. Inspired by shows from Budapest Festival Orchestra’s founder Iván Fischer, the informal setting allows audiences to enjoy classical music in a unique way, with performers interspersed around the cosy venue.

Opera performances include Opéra Comique’s production of Bizet’s Carmen starring Gaëlle Arquez, Komische Oper Berlin’s production of Mozart’s The Marriage Of Figaro, directed by Kirill Serebrennikov, and Stravinsky’s Oedipus Rex by Scottish Opera, performed by a community chorus comprising 100 Scots.

The Philharmonia Orchestra will be busy. As well as performing Verdi’s Requiem, conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali, they’ll also present the UK premiere of Julia Wolfe’s Fire In My Mouth, conducted by Marin Alsop with the National Youth Choir of Scotland, and the festival’s closing concert, Strauss’s Capriccio (conducted by Sir Andrew Davis), with Malin Byström.

Soloists include Dame Sarah Connolly, Yuja Wang, Golda Schultz, Alison Balsom and Hilary Hahn; while the contemporary music programme features singer-songwriter Cat Power, composer and pianist Chilly Gonzales, orchestral-pop group The Magnetic Fields and Senegalese sensation Youssou N’Dour.

In an attempt to open the festival up to a broader audience, this year half the tickets will be priced at £30 or less, free tickets will be available to young musicians, and £10 ‘affordable tickets’ will be available for all performances.

Now in her second year as festival director, Nicola Benedetti said, ‘As we join forces with the world's greatest artists and bring them here to Edinburgh, we do so with a deeper dedication to our audience. This year the Edinburgh International Festival inaugurates new and reimagined rituals, honouring tradition and innovation, to bind us closer together. We invite you to seek and gather with us this August – there is always something new to discover.’

Edinburgh International Festival will take place from Friday 2–Sunday 25 August. Tickets go on sale from noon on Thursday 21 March.